Better Off Ted

The thing I really dislike about sitcoms is that they just aren’t all that funny. And I especially hate when the canned laugh track kicks in after a totally un-funny line. Which is why I love Better Off Ted — it’s genuinely funny, it’s charmingly quirky, and no silly  fake-o laughs.

After a long hiatus, Better Off Ted is back – yeah!! If you haven’t checked it out, you really should — because if enough people watch it, it hopefully won’t get cancelled like all my other favourite shows!! RIP Pushing Daisies and Without a Trace.

But back to Ted…

Need cow-less meat grown in a test tube? Done.

Need pumpkins that also double as weapons of mass destruction? No problem.

Better Off Ted is a satirical office comedy about successful good guy, Ted, who runs research and development at the morally questionable Veridian Dynamics. No achievement is too far-fetched and no invention too unorthodox for Veridian. Ted's a single dad to a seven-year-old girl, and he loves his job, but he's starting to take a closer look at the company's extremely dubious practices. Do you manufacture the best teeth whitener ever if it could also kill off all of the planet's fish? Probably not, but...

See, I told you it’s quirky :-) It’s also very clever, and Portia de Rossi is FANTASTIC as Veronica. She’s sort of a combination of a strict elementary school teacher, Donald Trump, and a dumb blonde. Cold and unemotional are two words to describe her — the woman has a chrome desk chair, for crying our loud!!

Scientists Phil & Lem are hilarious — typical nerdy genius stereotypes who belong to a medieval fight club that meets in Veridian’s basement to sword fight in full attire.

Linda works in the testing department. She decides which Veridian Dynamic products are safe and which ones can kill all the fish in the sea. She's creative, independent, and idealistic. Every time Linda gets drunk, she ends up either getting fired or getting laid. She has the hots for Ted, and is frustrated by his "one office affair" rule (he already got it on with Veronica).

And Ted… he’s stuck in the middle of this wacko bunch. Ted is senior vice-president of Research and Development at Veridian Dynamics. Nothing is impossible to Ted.

Ted does the Ferris Bueller talk-to-the-audience thing and kind of brings the viewer into the world that is Veridian Dynamics. Scary as it is…

Veridian Dynamics is one of the largest companies in America. We're everywhere. In everything. We specialize in products ranging from space exploration, industrial foods, weapons systems, technology and consumer goods. We even make formal wear and a meat-based space tuxedo -- something we haven't yet found a use for. With offices around the world, even in the silly countries, Veridian is working hard to make the world a better place for humans and other sentient beings.

Founded by Phinnaeus Veridian in 1842, Veridian Dynamics began as a neighborhood general store specializing in tobacco, killing machines, and party favors.

Veridian Dynamics is a company that prides itself on two basic fundamentals: pioneering products that make lives better and leading the world in weapons technology. Our diversified corporation is building a brighter future through our patented system of science and innovation, known as "sciencevation."

* Veridian Dynamics. Making your world better. Whether you want us to or not.
* "Sciencevation" is a copyrighted term. We've also copyrighted the terms "innoscience" and "Scinnovationience."

And to tie in the home decor angle (after all, this is supposed to be a blog about home decor!!) Veronica has a super-sleek and modern and cool apartment!! Sorry the pics are a bit dark & fuzzy – I used my handy-dandy screen cap program SnagIt to steal them from the ABC web site. Wahahahahah!!! I mean, borrow them legally from the ABC web site… ;-)

I love the swirly black & white wallpaper…

And the cool white leather chair & red accents…

And check out the round shelving unit — how cool is that?!

Did you notice that Veronica and Linda are wearing outfits that coordinate with the apartment?? I do that all the time in my house ;-)

Better Off Ted is on ABC Tuesdays at 9:30pm. If you live in the US, you can watch full episodes online at ABC’s web site. If you live in Canada or presumably anywhere else in the world, you’re outta luck. Boooo!! Can someone please tell US TV and radio operators that the WORLD WIDE WEB means ALL AROUND THE WORLD, not only the US.

Anyway, if you can watch episodes online, I highly recommend you check out Trust and Consequences from July 14th.

Hmmm… maybe this is the evil work of Veridian Dynamics…